Training Camp Stock Report: Asher Allen

Move over Chris Cook, there’s another Vikings cornerback who is making a huge splash in camp.

And it’s not Lito Sheppard.

In fact, if Chip Scoggins is to be believed, Lito might not even end up with a starting job when all is said and done.

The man making the huge impression on Scoggins and others?  Second-year corner Asher Allen.  “I’ve been very impressed with Asher Allen and won’t be surprised if he’s the starter at right corner in season opener,” the Star-Trib’s Scoggins tweeted Monday morning from camp.

This comes as a somewhat amazing development given that, up till now, we had been led to believe that Lito Sheppard was almost a lock to start at right corner with a revived Antoine Winfield starting at left.

Clearly, Sheppard has not been everything the Vikings hoped when they signed him as a replacement for the injured Cedric Griffin.  And with Benny Sapp also missing practice due to post-dehydration symptoms, the door opened for a man like Allen.

The really huge story here, to me, is the amazing turnaround of the Vikings’ defensive backfield.  Going into camp, the secondary seemed like a veritable minefield of question marks.

But now we know that Antoine Winfield is back to 100%.  And we keep hearing great things about safeties Jamarca Sanford and Husain Abdullah.  And we have two young talents in Asher Allen and Chris Cook who appear ready to contribute.  And we still have Cedric Griffin waiting in the wings.

Suddenly, the question marks look like exclamation points.

Starting this Saturday night against the Rams, we’ll get to see some of these exciting young players for ourselves, in quasi-game action.

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